Jesus face to face on the Damascus road, Ananias of Damascus was directed to be a messenger of healing to the blinded Saul. “The Lord said to Ananias ‘Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles . . . I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’” (Acts 9:15–16).
Yes, as the priest said, “Every believer has a cross.”
Didn’t Jesus say, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). The purpose is found in the second half of the verse in John that I referred to earlier. Jesus did say, “In this world you will have trouble,” but then He added: “But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33b, c).
“Indeed,” writes Paul, “we share in his [Christ’s] sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Romans 8:17b).
Looking to the Creator
January 26
As I’m sure you can appreciate, walking through a jungle can be a very dangerous activity. I read somewhere of an ingenious way some of the natives have devised to keep tigers from sneaking up from behind them in a jungle environment, which tigers are prone to do. They simply wear a facemask on the back of their heads.
None of us really wants to act two–faced or be seen by others as two–faced, but it would be handy, from time to time, to have a pair of eyes in the back of your head.
This very month of January, of course, suggests it. January was named for the old Roman god of beginnings, Janus, who was represented with two bearded heads set back to back—one looking forward, the other behind. However, a major difficulty we experience in this life when we look back is the realization that although we can look back, we cannot go back, and when we look ahead, we simply cannot see around the corner. May I suggest that there is another place to look that is better by far.
The prophet Isaiah was out looking at a changing sky one darkening night:
Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name . . . Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. [And this] Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint (Isaiah 40:26, 28, 31).
The Wings of a Dove
January 27
No doubt, you have heard of the adage that says, “You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.” This is true, but you can make good out of seeming disaster.
It happened to an unnamed artist. The story goes something like this. The artist, a painter, was just adding the finishing touches to his masterpiece when he inadvertently made some disfiguring blots on the sky. Instead of going into a rage, he calmly added a beak to each blot, then wings, until they became birds—in flight.
David the Psalmist was meditating and in prayer one day. He was in deep trouble . . . he describes himself as distraught.
“My heart is in anguish within me;” he writes in Psalm 55, adding, “Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me.” Then he made this cry: “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly far away and be at rest—I would flee far away and stay in the desert; I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm” (Psalm 55: 4–8).
A little bit later in the chapter, verses 16 and 17, comes this: “But I call to God, and the LORD saves me. Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.”
This cry from the heart of the Psalmist has an echoing call from your heart and mine when the troubles we face seem to overwhelm us. David’s advice to all who face life’s troubles (and we all have them) is found in the same Psalm. You have likely heard it many times. “Cast your cares on the LORD, and he will sustain you.”
Give your cares the wings of God. They too will fly away.
A Tax on Sunshine
January 28
One of the most ridiculous taxes ever imposed was the window tax that was imposed on people in London, England, from 1695 to 1851. Every house with more than six windows was liable to a tax for the extras. Many people simply boarded up their windows to avoid the tax. In effect, the government had put a tax on sunshine.
Quite a few windows are still being boarded up these days—not by boards or brick or mortar, but by human regulation, often at various levels of government. And they are not set up to keep out the light of the sun, but rather the light of spiritual life. There are repressive governments in the world that prevent people from worshipping God and preaching the gospel of Christ.
Lest we forget, there are similar happenings right in our own backyard. It’s getting increasingly difficult, for example, for the Gideons to distribute Bibles in the schools anymore. Teachers have to be very careful what they say concerning spiritual matters. And referring to the Christmas season, where can you put up a replica of the manger scene in a public place?
In that long, one hundred nineteenth Psalm, verse 105, the Psalmist writes: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” Any country that bans that Word or subverts it does so at that country’s peril. Take away the Word of God, and the light and lamp of life goes out, and all is darkness.
As the book of Hebrews puts it: “The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight.” (Hebrews 4:12–13a).
You might attempt to block out the windows . . . even the windows of the soul. But you cannot hide from God—“to whom [as the book of Hebrews puts it] we must give account” to avoid the tax. God’s light penetrates.
Enlightened Eyes
January 29
Have you ever looked at the world through tinted glasses? What do we see when we look out on the world of today? We often, as someone has put it, “let others do our seeing for us.” Television is a prime example of this. Certainly we often see a much–distorted picture of the world in which we live.
In his letter to the Ephesian Christians, the Apostle Paul included this prayer: “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he [God] has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance. . .” (Ephesians 1:18). The eyes of faith, the eyes of the heart and understanding, give us “second sight,” as it were, to look beyond to the eternal world of Almighty God.
The prophet Elisha was a very godly and powerful man, so powerful that Israel’s enemies of the time, the Arameans, sent a strong force to capture him. The force arrived during the night, surrounding the city where Elisha was living. Looking out in the early morning, Elisha’s servant saw an army with horses and chariots. The servant rushed back to the prophet, crying, “What shall we do?” Calmly, Elisha replied: “Don’t be afraid: Those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2 Kings 6:15b–16). Then further in verse 17a, Elisha prayed: “O LORD, open his eyes so he may see.” The servant’s eyes were opened, and he saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire—the
